


Someone I love

by rarmaster



Series: More than a Shadow [2]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Gen, OH TW: FOR ABUSE MENTIONS TOO, graphic violence is probably in correct but, it is a battle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-10
Updated: 2015-07-10
Packaged: 2018-04-08 16:27:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4312221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rarmaster/pseuds/rarmaster
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A psuedo-sequel to "More than a Shadow" - Kairi finds Larxene while out on a mission. And there's only one thing to do then.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Someone I love

Kairi stopped short at a sickeningly familiar sight of blonde hair in the crowd of people moving away from the Heartless that had appeared the moment she had arrived. She cast a hasty Holy—Aerith had taught her that one, though perhaps Salvation, which Queen Minnie had taught her, would’ve been the better choice—to clear the Heartless, then marched toward the owner of said blonde hair. She was moving pretty quickly, shoving people out of her way, grumbling loudly about just wanting to _lay low._

“Hey, you!” Kairi shouted, banishing her Keyblade. She’d need her hands free for this. A few people turned around, but kept on bustling the moment they were certain her shout had not been for them. Kairi waited a moment, grimacing when she received no response. She called again. “ _Larxene!_ ”

She did not have another name for the woman, and even if Larxene went by something different now, like a lot of other former Organization members, Kairi didn’t care. Larxene slowly turned around, murder in her eyes. She waited for the rest of the crowd to finish clearing before speaking.

“I was wondering when one of you Keyblade brats were going to come hunt me down…” She sighed dramatically. But Kairi, having learned more than enough from Namine’s memories, was moving while Larxene was too busy putting on a show of lamenting her circumstances to notice. She charged at Larxene and punched her in the face—something of a promise she’d made to Namine.

The force of the blow, with Kairi _running_ before landing it, should’ve knocked Larxene off her feet. She only staggered back a step. Grabbed Kairi by the wrist. There was a twist, a shock of electricity, and then Kairi found herself on the ground. Larxene looked down on her, satisfied, dusting her hands off.

A brief surge of terror restricted Kairi’s lungs—with her on the ground and Larxene above her and everything—a side-effect of having Namine in her heart so long, of being exposed to so many ill memories. But Kairi forced herself to breathe. Forced herself to channel those memories not into fear, but into fury.

As she rolled to her feet, she thanked all her lucky stars that Namine had her own body now, and was back at home, blissfully unaware of this and completely safe. Larxene raised her eyebrows, amused, waiting for her to move. Kairi summoned her Keyblade. It came in a rush of light and warmth and firm feelings of Namine and Namine being _safe._ She rushed at Larxene again.

Larxene ducked away from her Keyblade, drove her elbow into Kairi’s gut. Kairi flew backwards, tumbled against the ground. It was quite a few seconds before she could breathe again.

“Do I get to know _why_ you’re attacking me?” Larxene asked. “I don’t even recognize you!” She didn’t sound the slightest bit threatened. She sounded like she was enjoying herself, and it made Kairi’s blood boil.

“This is for _Namine!_ ” she screamed, getting back on her feet.

“Namine, huh?” Larxene laughed. Dodged the swing of Kairi’s Keyblade. Kairi was able to dodge the returning punch, but not the lightning bolt that hit her leg. Even at a non-vital point, it still made her stagger. Larxene continued talking, in clear control of the situation and _loving_ it. “I see the little witch is still up to her old tricks… I never would’ve thought she’d go after someone like _you,_ though.” She drummed her chin thoughtfully, having enough time to do so, seeing as Kairi was on the ground again. “But, I suppose tastes change—”

“SHUT UP!” Kairi roared. She had to scream from the ground, the electricity in her legs making it currently impossible to stand back up. Her muscles were like jelly. And to think Namine had had to put up with— “You have _no idea_ what you’re talking about!!”

“I know you wouldn’t be the first person who she’s manipulated into thinking they loved her. In fact, you’d be the third, and that’s only who I’ve met _personally._ ”

Kairi grit her teeth. She cast a quick Cure on herself, bringing feeling back to her legs, then channeled the residual energy still in her fingertips into a fireball. Larxene dodged that, but when Kairi swung her Keyblade again, it connected.

“She’s _not_ like that!!” Kairi argued, as she backed out of Larxene’s immediate range. Better. Much better, considering she was still on her feet.

Larxene just laughed. She charged this time, with a speed that still managed to surprise Kairi. The first punch landed. The second Kairi managed to block. She was grateful for it, too. That one had knives.

“I _know_ what she did to Sora,” Kairi continued. She took a step back, shifted her weight, pushed Larxene off her. “But I know that _you_ made her do it!!” She ran forward, swinging, swinging again, screaming. “You used her, you _abused_ her, and you have the nerve to blame _her_ for it?!”

Larxene darted out of the reach of Kairi’s blade, clearly more accustomed to the dance of battle than Kairi was. “She always _did_ like having someone nice and strong to protect her,” she said, casually. The glint in her eyes alone as she watched Kairi, waiting for a reaction, was enough to make Kairi want to do murder.

“SHUUUUT UPP!” She shouted, running forward again.

It was a kick to the side that knocked her off her feet this time. Larxene straightened and rolled her neck like she did this sort of thing all the time.

“So, little miss hero, would you mind introducing yourself?”

“I’m. _Kairi!_ ”

Larxene seemed positively thrilled to hear this news. “Oh ho! So she redid your memories to keep you away from Sora, did she!”

“You know _literally nothing_ about her!!”

It was so infuriating to hear Larxene talk about Namine like that. A part of Kairi knew Larxene was only doing it _to_ make her angry, but she was too angry to care about it anymore. Namine was _not_ a manipulative witch! If anyone was manipulative, it was Larxene. And even if _she_ wasn’t a witch, she was certainly another word Kairi knew that happened to rhyme.

“Where is Namine, anyway?” Larxene asked. She didn’t attack—and wouldn’t, Kairi knew, so long as she could draw out this bait and keep getting a rise out of Kairi. “Is she here? I’d _love_ to see her pretty little face again.”

Kairi shuddered at that tone of voice. “She’s somewhere safe!” she answered, hands tight on her Keyblade. In reality, Namine was probably alone right now, but like hell Kairi’d tell Larxene _that._ “Somewhere with a lot of people who won’t let you anywhere _near her._ I know for certain that _I_ won’t!”

Kairi charged again.

Larxene rolled her eyes, as if she’d heard that before.

Maybe she had. She was right, in any case, saying that Kairi was not the first person to have protected Namine. She was just wrong in the reasons why. Kairi had no false memories written a very careful way that would make her fall in love with Namine. She just had real memories, and a burning desire to make Larxene pay.

Kairi feinted a swing, then backed off, throwing all the light she could summon at Larxene. Tossing magic haphazardly wasn’t safe, everyone she knew had told her that, but she didn’t care. While Larxene was still dazed from the light, Kairi attacked, packing all her anger into each blow. She knew what Larxene had done to Namine. She knew all too well. Namine had spent months, nestled in the back of her heart, and when you shared a heart, the lines between your things and their things got blurred. Memories were no exception.

Larxene fought back, of course, and she fought hard. Her punches hurt. Her knives stung. Her lightning always made Kairi stagger. But Kairi kept going. She made herself think of this like any other battle against a large Heartless, or a spar against Xion. (Xion was always the meanest in spars.) It was just like that, except there was so much more at stake, so she did not let herself get knocked off her feet again.

She kept her mind fixed on Namine. On the pain Namine had suffered, had been made to suffer. A year’s worth of cruelty and _it’s your fault_ and _you aren’t worth anything._ Not all of that was Larxene, but a lot of it was, and Larxene was who was here now. Kairi focused on Namine’s pain, and channeled it through her Keyblade, through her fingertips into more reckless blasts of light.

It seemed to be working.

“We didn’t _make_ her!” Larxene shouted. She tried to distance herself from Kairi, but Kairi kept on her. “We made the _suggestion,_ of course, about what to do with Sora, but she was more than eager to do it!” The taunt was not like the others. Larxene didn’t sound scared—Kairi could never imagine her sounding scared—but her tone was more frantic. She did not sound so much like she was enjoying herself, now.

“Of course she was. All she wanted was for someone to love her.” Kairi replied. “Is that a surprise, given how you treated her?” She did not think about how she moved her feet or how she swung her Keyblade, now. That was second nature, a flowing rhythm her body moved to without thought.

She did not think about it. She thought about Namine.

Namine, who’d taken months before she could really look anyone in the eye. Namine, who still flinched whenever someone raised their voice, regardless of why. Namine, who tacked on an _I’m sorry_ to the end of nearly every sentence. Namine, who had to ask almost fifty times if Kairi loved her before she finally believed it.

She thought of Namine, and how much she loved her.

She thought of Larxene, and how much she hated her.

“ _Enough!_ ” Larxene shrieked. Her knives connected with Kairi’s stomach, and the strongest surge of lightning Kairi had ever felt surged from them into her skin. She yelped and staggered backwards. She stayed on her feet, at least, somehow, but Larxene managed to put plenty distance between them while she was recovering.

Larxene let out a long sigh that sounded like it were just for show. Her sick grin was back on her face. “Well, it was nice meeting you, Kairi!” she said. Her tone had returned to deathly sweet, and if it weren’t for the fact Kairi knew, Kairi might never had guessed she’d just been in a battle. “Maybe I’ll see you again soon, _especially_ if you stick around Namine… Ta-ta!”

A dark corridor enveloped her, and she was gone.

Kairi let out a long breath and banished her Keyblade. Namine…

 

**xxx**

 

Namine looked up in surprise when Kairi opened the door. Kairi just smiled weakly at her, glad to see she was still here, not to mention safe. Namine obviously saw the injuries that Kairi was ignoring, because it was only a second later that Namine was helping her stagger into the room, and only a second more before Namine was easing her onto the floor, resting her head in her lap.

“What _happened?_ ” Namine asked, in a quiet voice. Her fingers shifted through Kairi’s hair until they could rest on Kairi’s temples. Kairi let out a deep sigh as Namine’s healing magic poured through her body—why Namine insisted on healing like this, by focusing her magic at your head before your injuries, Kairi still wasn’t sure, but it was just as effective, so what did it matter?

Kairi laughed, lightly. “I just beat the shit out of Larxene,” she said.

Namine went rigid. The flow of healing magic stopped abruptly. Kairi wasn’t surprised, though she did wonder why Namine hadn’t known before now. They did not quite have the same understanding of each other as they did when they shared a heartspace, but they still seemed to have an understanding close to telepathy, sometimes.

“You saw her…” Namine whispered. “She’s…”

Kairi frowned at the slight buzz of magic inside her brain—that would be Namine, digging through her surface memories—though she could not really blame Namine for wanting to check. Not about this. Kairi sighed.

“It’s alright, Namine, I’m more mad than I am hurt.”

“I-is she…?”

“No, I didn’t kill her, she left once things started looking rough.” Kairi snorted. Larxene was awful and cruel, but the moment the situation wasn’t in her control, she turned into a right coward, it seemed. The smile on Kairi’s lips was quick to fade, though. “Uh, you should probably stick around me or someone else at all times until she’s taken care of, by the way. She made me a vague promise which might have implied her coming after you.”

Namine shuddered.

Kairi reached over and put a hand on her arm, bending her head back so she could look up at Namine. Namine was looking straight ahead, and a lot paler than normal.

“I won’t let her get you,” Kairi said. “No one will, trust me.”

Namine just nodded.

Kairi chewed her lip and put her head in a more comfortable position. “We’ll need to tell Sora and Riku, by the way,” she said. “Especially since I didn’t actually get my mission done—I spent the whole time fighting Larxene, then wanted to come back here to make sure you were okay right away.”

“Thank you…” Namine whispered.

“Yeah.”

“You’re… as healed up as I can get you, by the way…” Namine cleared her throat, and gently pushed Kairi out of her lap and upright. “We should ask Aqua or Sora to finish healing you, probably…. And, let them know, like you said.”

“Uhuh.” Kairi got to her feet, then offered out a hand to help Namine up. “Thanks for healing me.” She knew that Namine could’ve healed her completely, and the only reason she’d stopped was because Kairi mentioned Larxene and she now did not feel comfortable enough to continue, but she didn’t mention that. There was no reason to.

“It was the least I could do,” Namine answered, as she got to her feet as well. She opened her mouth, hesitated a long moment, then in a very quiet voice, with her eyes at the ground, said: “Thanks for beating her up for me…”

Kairi beamed.

“Any day!”

 

 

 


End file.
